Took in a stray and FirstCat not thrilled...how long before the fighting stops? (male, siamese)

[catfancier]

Deep sigh...there is that saying that "no good deed goes unpunished."


I live in an apartment complex and have done some TNR trapping of some of the strays here. One tuxedo boy seemed very sweet --- my vet loved him and said he reminded her of my late tuxedo boy -- and I decided to bring him in. I already have a rescue kitty - a Siamese mix male estimated to be around 2. I've had him since early December 2019, so he's been Only Cat all that time.


New Cat came home Sept. 18. (I had a couple from the rescue group "bring him him" like he was their idea.) We all sat around while he was in the carrier and FirstCat could come over and smell and check it out. There was a little hissing from FirstCat but nothing hysterical. I separated them the first few days then supervised the get-together.



Then NewCat had issues with his neuter site and wound up spending 5 days AT the vet. So the re-intro had to take place again. There have been 3 other vet visits but not to stay over. (So far my "free"cat has cost me $500 in all the issues...repair surgery, tapeworm, meds, still on ringworm meds, etc. ) NewCat was very affectionate and would snuggle with me and put his head on my shoulder, even with the damn cone he had to wear over a week so he wouldn't mess with his stitches.



FirstCat was the instigator in most of the tussles but recently NewCat is... FirstCat will be lying down and NewCat will come over and start licking him -- then go for his throat. Each will have damp fur around the neck from jawing each other. No blood -- yet. I can't tell if this is some sort of alpha male fighting or very rough play? Other times they lie next to each other with no issues. I can't figure out which way it is going on any given day. There occasionally is a real yelp and I think the play -- if it is play -- is too hard and it hurt. NewCat has also been a bit aggressive with me -- he has batted my head hard when I go to break up these scenes. He also has not been snuggling at all anymore. He still purrs when I pet him or brush him but he is "different." I know he may be all wound up from the aggression with FirstCat but I don't know how long this will last. He is at least 5 weeks past his initial neuter so I would think the testosterone level or whatevevr it is is not in effect?


Some people suggest Feliway in these situations -- I have read other posts that they found it worthless.



Thoughts on how to proceed here? I don't want to put NewCat back on the grounds...I'd have to find him a whole new home because there are neighbors who don't appreciate having the cats hang around my stairwell because they know there will be food. I took NewCat in partly because upstairs neighbor was annoyed at the two who are regulars here-- so then there was only one. But now in last week another cat is showing up. So I don't want to re-add NewCat and ahve three outside yelling. But that's another issue.


All input welcome.

[Demolitionman2]

Besides the newness of bringing another cat into the home when "newcat" was the original "owner" queen/king of the house it sounds like they are both fighting for domination "alpha" status. My son has three cats, two are female. The cats have been together now for about 7 years and the two females still get into their physical "contests" with the queen and want-to-be queen occasionally fighting with each other. The alpha-queen will even hiss and fight with the male sometimes for no apparent reason. Yes, my son has to step between and them sometimes to stop the fighting. This may be something that is going to take some time to resolve itself between "newcat" and "firstcat".

[Dwatted Wabbit]

Have you tried Feliway plug-in dispensers? Might help.

[Seguinite]

A male 'neighborhood' cat discovered our doggie door one night in a horrible thunderstorm. Found him hiding under the bed, with our female making sure he stayed there.

After that I started seeing him hanging around more and more in the front yard (doggie door in the back door, fenced yard). I'd shoo him away and didn't think much more about it. Then we started to see him in the back yard. And eventually, I caught him in the house a couple times. Long story short, it's been probably a couple years now, and he clearly considers our house 'home'. We gave up trying to keep him away because he really is a sweet cat. The neighbor across the street says he still visits her place nightly, because she leaves food out for him on the porch. Apparently he's been around for a long time, and she had him neutered some time back.

He's a prolific hunter, but thankfully has stopped bringing us presents... likely because he's getting plenty to eat now. He's a 'kill to eat' cat. The female is a 'catch and play with, maybe kill' cat. She HATES him. Still. No longer coming to blows, but plenty of hissing and carrying by female if male gets too close.